GM's Wagoner Takes Control
Of Ailing North American Unit

DETROIT -- General Motors Corp.'s chairman and chief executive, Rick Wagoner, is putting his leadership on the line, personally taking charge of the money-losing GM North America auto unit.

Amid its worst crisis since the early 1990s, GM said in a press release yesterday that Mr. Wagoner, 52 years old, will immediately assume responsibility for the $114 billion-a-year unit, replacing its chairman, Robert Lutz, and president, Gary...